Although some think I know it all, I am still learning by the day.
Audio might be based on science, a significant part should rather be considered a craft.
And that's all about experience.
Let me share some of these experiences with you.
I haven been involved with networked audio players since 2003, already 15 years ago now.
There were two reasons I got involved: my son used his computer to play music over an
old but still very good sounding stereo: Musical Fidelity A100 and BNS loudspeakers.
The Marantz cd-player with upgraded clock oscillator was not used; too inconvenient.
He rather shared MP3's with his friends.
I saw the possible future of audio and didn't like it.
The second reason was the market introduction of the first Squeezebox.
SlimDevices already had issued the SLiMP player two years earlier but that sounded horrible.
Over time I had three Squeezeboxes, the first model, the Duet and the Touch.
In that time I discovered the influence of a good power supply.
It was also the first time I came across the sBooster Best of Two Worlds Solution linear
power supply.
I still own it.
Over the years I experimented with many ways of playing audio files.
Like from a Mac Mini using a plethora of players: initially iTunes with many bit-perfect additions,
and then self sufficient players like Amarra, Audirvana, JRiver, PureMusic and others.
The DAC was the then fantastic Chord QDB76 HDSD and for a long time I thought this was
the best achievable with file based audio - at least, for me.
I did review the Meridian Sooloos Control 15 and the Media Core 200 network players
and was rather impressed.
They sounded fantastic over my Chord DAC and the user interface was from another world.
But so were the prices, the inability to play my 500 DSD albums and the limitation of relatively
small hard disks.
It was only three years ago that the Dutch distributor of Meridian pointed me in the
direction of Roonlabs, founded by the people that wrote the Sooloos software.
I got a license and was sold completely.
At about the same time the Sonore microRendu network bridge hit the market and it brought
a new dimension in file based audio.
The Mac mini could be placed elsewhere, functioning as Roon Core server while the microRendu functioned
as a very clean USB output of Roon, close to the DAC.
Of course with the sBooster BOTW P&P power supply.
If I remember well, the Chord Hugo was the DAC at that time.
Not so much later SOtM introduced the sMS-200 that was functionally the same as the microRendu,
sounded even slightly better and costed less.
And they have an international distribution system.
When SOtM introduced the sMS-200 Ultra, only a year later, the next big jump was made in
playback of audio files.
Together with the Mytek Brooklyn and MQA the audio result was so much better than - say
- three years before.
My well maintained and modified, more than 10 years old AudioNote Soro SE and the Audio
Physic Scorpio loudspeakers appeared to be able to sound so much better.
It motivated me to replace the old Kimber loudspeaker cable by AudioQuest Castle Rock
which again brought more sound improvement.
The sBooster power supplies on the Brooklyn DAC and SOtM network bridge got replaced by
the MK II version and again the quality was a notch up.
Recently the sBooster on the Brooklyn was replaced by the Syntaxx power supply and yes,
that again brought further improvement.
See my reviews for more detail, the links are in the comments and at the end of the
video.
The first I learned in an early stage was the importance of a good power supply.
But what is a good power supply.
Of course it has to have very low noise, properly controlled constant voltage and sufficient
amperage.
These demands might vary between devices.
For instance the Mytek Brooklyn uses internal DC-DC converters that have a high demand for
instant high current.
Switch mode power supplies are better capable of delivering that but usually are noisier
than linear power supplies.
The Syntaxx linear power supply appears to be able to beat the internal switch mode power
supply of the Brooklyn.
Not needed for a network bridge but ideal for the Brooklyn.
The AQvox switch - an improvement I forgot to mention earlier - sounds best with its
own switch mode power supply.
There appear to be no easy answers and the consumer can only judge by trail and error.
That's why I move somewhat ahead as an explorer.
The most astonishing was the discovery of the immense influence the quality of the digital
signal has on the sound quality.
That initially did not make any sense.
An asynchronous USB or ethernet signal should - at first sight - not be sensitive to timing
errors.
But the influence is enormous.
I am now convinced that the difference between good digital players and truly high-end players
has to do with the power supply, timing perfection in the digital domain and time smearing caused
by the digital to analog conversion - especially the reconstruction filter.
These things are - of-course -interleaved.
A poor power supply will cause jitter due to voltage variations on the power rail and
jitter will cause the digital to analogue conversion to perform a poor reconstruction
of the signal.
With CD-players the mechanism will put a strain on the power supply and the idea of reading
microscopic pits from a 200 to 500 rpm spinning and vibrating disk at a speed of 5 km per
hour - 3.1 miles per hour - is ridiculous.
It's a miracle it works at all - but it does.
Sort of.
Good power supply and careful handling of digital and analogue signals as I describe
in my series Audio Hygiene brings you more quality.
It's like with food.
You should not only buy the best fresh ingredients, but use good oil or butter to cook or bake
in, use a quality pan, cook or bake it the right time and let it rest after cooking in
some cases.
Even the presentation does effect the taste, I am told.
It is the chain, not the individual link that define the strength of a chain.
If you only use one strong link, the chain will snap at any place but that link, but
it will snap anyway.
It's the same with stereo.
It's great that you use a good power supply, but if only one other component isn't of
the same quality, the return on investment will be small.
Let alone replacing only one poor component by a better one in a chain of poor components.
That's what happens when people say they hear no difference.
I am no researcher nor developer, I am an audio journalist.
I evaluate equipment by using it and only do basic measurements to check if there are
basic faults in the design.
Like car journalists review cars.
Next Friday, 17:00 hours CET yet another video will be out.
And if you do't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or following me on the social
media so you know when new videos are released.
If you liked this video, give it a thumbs up.
Many thanks to all that support this channel financially, it keeps me independent and thus
trustworthy.
If you also feel like supporting my work, the links are in the comments below this video
on Youtube.
I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on theHBproject.com.
And whatever you do, enjoy the music.
For more infomation >> Kim Kardashian West's Makeup Artist Shares 3 Tips For Perfect Glam | TODAY - Duration: 5:22. 
For more infomation >> Dave Franco On His Symbolic Role In 'If Beale Street Could Talk' | TODAY - Duration: 5:51. 
For more infomation >> ¡El presidente Trump bajó del avión a Nancy Pelosi! | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 3:11. 
For more infomation >> Zulema, la médium latina, hace contacto con los muertos | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 10:08. 
For more infomation >> ¡Los empleados federales están desesperados y sin dinero! | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 3:36. 
For more infomation >> Hoda Kotb And Jenna Bush Hager Play With Yellies, The Toy That Feeds Off Yelling | TODAY - Duration: 1:48. 
For more infomation >> Grabois: "La exclusión de clases populares no es parte de nuestra identidad" - Duration: 2:49. 
For more infomation >> ¡No hay solución para el cierre del gobierno federal! | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 2:32. 
For more infomation >> ¡Otro revés judicial para la familia de Joan Sebastian! | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 2:17. 
For more infomation >> Aeroméxico da ofertas para quienes tengan sangre azteca | Un Nuevo Día | Telemundo - Duration: 2:23. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét